Why the Engagement Data Platform is More than a CDP

Marketing technology platforms all have the same goal — to develop a relationship with a consumer that turns them into a customer. Every marketing technology platform out there promises this end result. One especially, the Customer Data Platform (CDP), has been hailed as the “brain” of marketing technology platforms. 

What is a Customer Data Platform (CDP)?

Customer Data Platform. The name says it all — it’s a platform that stores customer data. It’s the tool of the data-centric marketer. 

According to the CDP Institute, a platform must have these five capabilities to earn the “RealCDP” distinction: 

1. Ingest data from any source
2. Capture full detail of ingested data
3. Store ingested data indefinitely (subject to privacy constraints)
4. Create unified profiles of identified individuals
5. Share data with any system that needs it

There are many different types of CDPs. Some common types include digital CDPs, campaign CDPs, integration CDPs, and analytical CDPs. Ideally, a CDP would take the data gathered by a marketer and show a full picture of the customer they’re marketing to. 

Unfortunately, many CDPs have failed to demonstrate that they can easily take data and activate it for customer engagement strategies. While CDPs claim to be holistic solutions for gathering data and presenting a unified view, they fall short at taking action from that view. That’s because many CDPs are IT-driven data environments that lack the business use cases that can make them successful for marketing campaigns. They ingest various data types but rely on costly and time-intensive integrations to deliver value.

In theory, they sound like comprehensive solutions, but in execution, Customer Data Platforms are failing the marketer. Marketers cannot personalize campaigns to a customer without manually accessing data from various systems. If you want to evolve from being a data-centric marketer to a customer-centric marketer, what you need is the Engagement Data Platform. 

“63% of marketers can’t assemble unified customer data” — Understanding CDP Users: CDP Institute Member Survey 2019

How the Engagement Data Platform is different from a Customer Data Platform

Simply put, Cheetah Digital’s Engagement Data Platform helps marketers build valuable relationships with the people they’re marketing to. Unlike many CDPs that focus on anonymous third-party data, the Engagement Data Platform collects and uses first- and zero-party data. And because it’s built natively with channels, experiences, and loyalty in mind, it is better at providing a full picture of a customer, throughout the customer lifecycle.  

Cheetah Digital’s Engagement Data Platform has many capabilities, including: 

• Enterprise data management 
• Audience segmentation
• Advanced analytics
• Integrated machine learning
• Streaming data ingestion
• Connectors framework
• Trigger engine
• Smart messaging

It is just as smart about handling data as a CDP is. But most importantly, what sets the Engagement Data Platform apart from a CDP is the ability to connect that data into a system of action. 

“54% of marketers can’t apply unified customer data to delivery systems” — Understanding CDP Users: CDP Institute Member Survey 2019

The Engagement Data Platform turns data insights into action

Amassing large amounts of data is useless if the marketer can’t do anything with it — or if the marketer frequently needs the involvement of IT to make use of that data. Marketers need a platform that takes data, transforms it into a holistic view of a customer, and then enables them to create campaigns that truly connect with a customer with deeper personalization. 

So, how exactly does the Engagement Data Platform turn this data into action? It natively connects to and drives Cheetah Digital’s Customer Engagement Suite, which includes Cheetah Experiences, Cheetah Messaging, and Cheetah Loyalty.

The Customer Engagement Suite uses the data that flows into and out of the Engagement Data Platform to personalize campaigns throughout the customer lifecycle. It allows marketers to take the intelligent insights earned from Cheetah Messaging, Cheetah Loyalty, and Cheetah Experiences and turn them into action, in real time, at scale, across multiple channels. 

Why is it important to differentiate the Engagement Data Platform from a Customer Data Platform?

Consumers repeatedly tell us that they are only listening and responding to brands that see them. 

“The reality is that consumers want better personalization: approximately 80 percent of them say it’s important to them.” — McKinsey & Company

Customers are likely to only continue doing business with the brands that personalize campaigns to them. Add to that customer concerns about data privacy, as well as increasingly strict regulations and governance rules on data, and marketers have a complex world to navigate. 

With a platform like the Engagement Data Platform, there is a focus on receiving data from customers themselves. This data that is intentionally and proactively shared by the customer is called zero-party data (and can be gathered using a solution like Cheetah Experiences). That, along with first-party data, is the best data to create campaigns from, because the data is gathered from the customer themselves. Instead of inferring what customers want, we ask them.  

This zero-party data, along with first-party data, will be absolutely essential in creating personalized campaigns that build a path toward engagement, and then emotional loyalty. 

According to McKinsey & Company, personalized campaigns “build real value.” Focusing on personalization can result in: 

• 10-20% more efficient marketing and greater cost savings
• 10-30% uplift in revenue and retention

CDPs attempt to unify data to reach these results. The Engagement Data Platform is the only one that actually does.

The Engagement Data Platform creates better, more meaningful relationships

Cheetah Digital’s Engagement Data Platform improves upon the Customer Data Platform model in multiple ways, but its biggest advantage is native connectivity to systems of action that allow marketers to create a relationship with their customers. It’s the only solution that partners with marketers to nurture a customer from acquisition to engagement, to emotional loyalty. 

Don’t guess what’s going to be most relevant and engaging to your customers. Use the Engagement Data Platform to know what’s most important. Download the fact sheet to learn more about the Engagement Data Platform or demo it today to try it out.